A CORONER has recorded a verdict of accidental death after a teenager was shot in the eye with an air rifle.

Rachel Davies, aged 18, of Westbourne Avenue, Whitefield, died last December, 16 days after the shooting at a flat in Oram Street, Bury.

Rachel had been staying at the home of David McKeon, 28. At about 11am on December 7, Rachel and David were asleep in the bedroom of David’s ground-floor flat in Oram Street, when Stephen Hodgson arrived.

Speaking about Rachel, Stephen later told the police: “She asked if I’d brought my dog because she loved playing with him.”

He then noticed a black, suede case leaning against a mirror near the door.

He told the police: “I asked David ‘what's that?’ and he said ‘it’s my gun’. I asked if I could have a look.

“I took out the air rifle and David said it had a good sight on it.

“I looked down the sight for a few seconds and then lowered the gun with one hand to put it back in the case, but something slipped. I don’t know what happened.”

Both David and Stephen recall noticing Rachel's eye was swollen and bruised.

At the inquest, David said: “I heard a loud popping sound and then heard Stephen say 'what have I done?’ I phoned for an ambulance.”

Stephen said: “I went for my phone but David had already called 999.

Rachel was taken to Fairfield Hospital and transferred to Salford Royal Hospital. She died two days before Christmas.

At last Friday’s inquest in Rochdale, coroner Simon Nelson said Rachel’s friend, Stephen was “larking about” with the weapon, but had not intended to harm her.

Stephen, now aged 29 and of Walnut Avenue, said his finger went nowhere near the trigger.

Firearms expert James Skay said the gun was in an unbelievably poor condition and tests proved it could fire by itself.

Dr Naomi Carter, a pathologist, told the inquest a pellet had entered through Rachel's eye and reached the back of her brain causing swelling.

She said Rachel was knocked almost fully unconscious by the blow and would not have been aware of her predicament.

David McKeon said he bought the weapon a few weeks before the incident for £60 from a friend called Clint Kirkham, now aged 29, of Wash Lane, Bury. David told the inquest he did not think at any stage the weapon was loaded.

Mr McKeon, Mr Hodgson and Mr Kirkham were all charged with possessing a firearm without a licence. They were all cleared.

During police interviews Stephen repeated one question.

He said: “Why would anyone keep a loaded gun in their house?”

Mr Nelson said: “The question ought to be ‘why on Earth was there a weapon on the premises at all?

“I can see absolutely no justification at all for any possession, other than in highly controlled circumstances.”